Brannon felt his blood pressure rise at an alarming rate as he heard the words and watched his mate get sick all over the floor. Their diabolical plan was laid out for all to see. The teenagers, Elias, and Kasey. He glanced at Kasey on the couch and rage billowed forward. Before he could take a single step, he was grabbed from all directions.

“Let me go,” he demanded. “She hurt my mate.”

“What is this?!” Artemis hollered. “You have cameras in the house?”

Isaac stepped in front of Brannon and raised a hand in a stop gesture. “You can’t kill her. She’s pregnant with my child, but she can be arrested and held somewhere until said time as she is no longer pregnant. Then if you choose, find your way to get to her and settle the score for both of us. She hurt my daughter as well, and that I will not forgive.”

“Isaac,” Artemis demanded, “what is the meaning of this. How could you violate me that way? Taping us without our knowledge? You’re disgusting.”

Brannon watched the veil of hatred fall over Isaac’s expression as he turned and faced her. “You are the one who is vile and disgusting. You treated my daughter with disdain, disgust, and flat out disregard until you discovered a use for her. Then you poisoned her and this poor boy. You are dead to me. I hope one day my son-in-law here does find you and gives you what you deserve. And I hope he draws it out most painfully.”

Artemis moved to strike Isaac, but Roberto grabbed her arm. “Be seated, Artemis,” Isaac demanded, “and remain quiet. You are guilty and have no recourse. If you say anything more, I’ll let the shifters tear into you, baby or not.” Brannon smelled the untruth Isaac used to scare his wife into behaving for the moment. If not for the baby, Brannon would gladly lend a claw or ten.

Isaac gave a nod to Luke and he and Bastien stood in front of the seated woman to make sure she complied with Isaac’s instructions.

Jonah cleared his throat to gain Isaac’s attention. “Sir, I’d suggest viewing this next clip. I should also caution that it may be a bit difficult to watch for some people.” Jonah grimaced. “Some of the things turned my stomach to watch.”

“Noted,” Isaac said. “Everyone I assume heard. If you don’t think you can handle it, please leave for a minute.”

Brannon wanted to scoop Kasey up and carry her from the room, but he knew she wouldn’t stand for it. She may be sick right now, but she was far from weak and wouldn’t appreciate being coddled like that.

He turned his attention back to the TV as the DVD began to play. Brannon couldn’t quite tell what he was looking at for a minute, his mind unable to comprehend the dim environment. “Is that a cage? In your house?”

Isaac nodded. “The house belonged to some interesting people before my family bought it a few generations back. To be honest, I’ve always kept that door to the basement padlocked.

“When I was a child, a cousin of mine locked me in that cage. It was hours before I was found. As soon as I became in possession of the house, I sealed the door. Call it a touch of irrationality, but I can’t stand going down there even now.”

No one mocked him for his fears. There were few adults who couldn’t relate in some way to something in their childhood that had scarred them in a similar way.

“I wasn’t aware anyone even knew it existed,” Isaac continued after a moment of silence, “but I kept it monitored just in case. Paranoia isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

On the TV, they watched as the two women entered the enclosed space, leading an obviously impaired Elias between them.

“Are you sure this will work and won’t kill him?” Elias’s mother asked as she strained to take more of her son’s weight as he staggered.

“I’ve not tried it before, but my grimoire has been handed down for generations. If it’s in there, then it works,” Artemis replied. “Hold him. I’ll get the door open. He needs to be kept secured for our safety as the potion takes over.”

Within a moment, Artemis had the cell door open and the two women were dragging a now unconscious Elias into the small space. “Hurry, Elaine, I don’t know how long it’ll take and I don’t want to be in here when it does.”

Brannon glanced at Elias to see how he was reacting to the video. He had no memory of these events, after all. Elias leaned forward on the couch, staring intently at the screen. “You okay?” he asked softly as he watched him wipe the sweat pouring down his face.

“Yeah, I…yeah, I’m fine,” Elias replied with a painfully sad expression on his face. “I’m afraid of what I’m going to see, honestly. She’s my mother and she just locked me in a cage.”

Brannon turned his attention back to the TV that Elias was pointing at and saw he was right. The two women were now standing outside the locked cage while Elias was lying on the ground.

“How do we know when it’s started working?” Elaine took a step closer to the cage and jumped as Elias let out a pained scream and curled into a fetal position on the cold concrete floor.

“That answer your question?” Artemis laughed in delight as she pulled a chair over and sat. “Don’t look at me like that, Elaine. You knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Sit down and think of all that will be ours when this is complete. Your son only has to endure a bit of pain, and then his destiny will be his once again.”

Elias buckled and convulsed in his tiny cell as the two women carried on a mundane conversation about mutual people they knew. His screams drowned out their words as the pain made him alternate between tears, vomiting, and begging for help. Artemis rolled her eyes after a few minutes and strode closer to the cage.

“This is progressing nicely. Look, Elaine, you can already see some of the physical changes taking place.”

Elaine stood and peered through the bars. “What do you mean? I don’t see anything different.”

“Look at his eyes the next time he’s able to open them. They are already feral and animalistic.” Artemis pointed to the floor below the spasming man. “He’s dug grooves into the ground with his nails, too.”

“You’re right. That’s amazing,” Elaine said in excitement.

“Mom, help me,” Elias cried as he stretched out a hand for her.

“I am, son. This is going to help you. Be strong and know I do this because I love you. You’ll thank me one day.”

Elias arched his back and let out a primal scream of pain as his whole body went rigid. The ground was saturated with blood, vomit, and sweat as the tormented howls continued minute after minute.

“Stop,” Isaac whispered as he turned to glare at the two women again. “Jonah, how long is this and how long does the boy suffer like that?”

“I didn’t get a chance to watch the whole thing, but I did skim the footage. It’s about two days’ worth in total. Though according to the recording clock at around hour twenty-two, he shifts and the pain seems to be minimal at that point.

“The rest of the time he spent between shifting forms, getting sick, and sleeping. The pain he endures only gets worse from here, though, if you don’t need to watch it, I’d recommend not. The boy…goes mad for a bit and it’s not a sight I’d recommend the mothers and expectant mothers watch.”

Isaac nodded, never taking his hate-filled stare off his wife and friend. “You’re going to remember this day,” he warned softly, “because this is the day you thank whatever god you believe in that I’ve gone legit. Otherwise, you can believe that what you did to this boy and my daughter pales in comparison to what I’d have done to you. Your lives have no value to me. If by some chance you do get out of prison, I’d hide, disappear and never show your faces again for it will be the last thing you do.”

“How dare you speak to me that way. You can’t threaten us like that. I’m the mother of your child.”

“You’ll be protected and kept safe until my son or daughter is born. But that is the only thing I’ll grant you and only because the child your carry is innocent of your crimes.”

“You are the FBI agents.” Artemis glared at the two men. “You heard him threaten our lives—that’s illegal.”

Chris raised one eyebrow. “He did? Jeff, you hear anything like that? ‘Cause I missed it.”

Jeff cocked his head to the side in thought before shaking his head in the negative. “Nope, didn’t hear anything like that at all.”

Brannon smiled as he moved to sit beside his mate again. Chris may not talk much, but when he did, it was all the right things.

“Mother?” Elias asked brokenly. “Why? I’m your son. How could you let her do that to me? How could you do that to me?”

“Oh, shut up, you sniveling little bastard. I did what was needed to bring our family back to what we deserved. We were once counted as among the proudest shifter families. Now look at us.”

“If you’ll excuse us, I think these ladies need to take a ride with Chris and me,” Jeff said as stepped forward to take a hold of Artemis as Chris did the same with Elaine. “If you don’t mind, we’d like to take that DVD with us.”

Brannon relaxed slightly as he watched the two agents take control. And while it was true, he couldn’t kill her right now, he could wait and watch. If she ever got free, she would die at his hands. A soft whimpering sound from Kasey brought his attention back to the room as she doubled over and clutched her stomach.

“What about Kasey? What’s wrong with her?” he growled.

“Go to hell, you shifting bastard,” Artemis snapped. “You can all rot in hell for all I care.”

“I’ll tell you everything, just don’t send me to jail,” Elaine screamed as she was dragged out of the room. “I promise, they’ll be fine. It’ll wear off if she can’t get to her potions to keep administering the elixir to them.”

“Wait,” Isaac called. “Keep talking.”

“It’s true. She was able to make my son’s condition permanent. He’ll be a shifter for life. His jaguar is sick right now, but with rest he’ll be fine. Stronger than a normal shifter, too. The teenagers and your daughter will be fine in a few weeks. Keep the kids from the clearing. Everything will wear off, and they’ll return to normal. They won’t even remember what happened to them.”

Isaac nodded, and they all watched as the two agents pulled the screaming woman out of the house and into the back of their car.